There has been an increasing awareness over the past decade of the need to provide public facilities to equally accommodate individuals having physical limitations, such as handicapped persons or elderly persons. Much effort has been directed to providing private and public products or facilities that allow physically limited persons to utilize the products or facilities with little or no assistance from others. For example, public buildings have been retrofitted with entrances that allow physically disabled persons to enter the facility without assistance by providing entrances without staircases.
It is generally known that most physically limited persons prefer independence and autonomy of action like non-physically limited persons. Nowhere is this more true than in areas where the physically disabled person attends to personal hygiene needs such as bathing.
Conventional bathtubs with a shower have a front wall which users must step over in order to get into and out of the bathtub. This type of bathtub is found in most residences and is provided in most hotels and motels. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many disabled persons to step over the front wall of a conventional bathtub. Further, even where a physically disabled person can manage to step over the front wall of the bathtub, such a maneuver poses the threat of serious injury due to a fall. However, retrofitting a conventional bathroom to better accommodate the physically limited can be difficult and expensive. There are difficulties in constructing suitable bathing facilities in the confined space of a bathroom and in accommodating existing flooring.
The present invention is directed to an easy-access shower base assembly which is adapted to replace a conventional bathtub so that physically limited persons can more easily get into and out of the shower. The easy-access shower base assembly comprises a shower base, a ramp leading up to the front ledge of the shower base, and at least one clip for attaching the ramp to the shower base.
The shower base comprises a rectangular basin which is substantially the same size as a conventional bathtub. The basin has a drain opening adjacent one end, as with traditional bathtubs, and the surface of the basin slopes gradually toward the drain opening to allow water to drain from the basin. The shower base further comprises a generally horizontal front ledge at the front of the basin which is at a much lower elevation than the front wall of a conventional bathtub. A lip depends downwardly from the front edge of the front ledge. The shower base further comprises a second generally horizontal ledge that surrounds the basin at the sides and back. The second horizontal ledge is vertically higher than the front ledge.
The shower base further comprises at least two water ducts for draining water collecting on the second ledge into the basin, thereby preventing it from running off the front of the base. The water ducts are preferably grooves formed in the second ledge on the sides of the base, generally adjacent the front ledge of the base. The second ledge preferably slopes gradually toward the water ducts, to facilitate water drainage.
The ramp has a thin front edge, and a thicker back edge which abuts the lip of the shower base. The ramp is substantially the same length as the front ledge of the shower base and slopes downwardly from the thicker back edge to the thin front edge.
In the preferred embodiment, at least one clip secures the ramp to the lip, and supports the back edge of the ramp in an elevated position so that the top surface of the back edge of the ramp is generally even with the surface of the front ledge of the base, with a space below the back edge of the ramp and in front of the lip to accommodate the thickness of the bathroom floor covering.
The shower base can be readily retrofit into the existing bathtub space, without reconfiguring the bathroom. The ramp provides a smooth transition into the basin accessible to those with physical limitations, and even persons in wheel chairs. The clips hold the ramp in place, with the rear edge of the ramp elevated. Thus the assembly can be retrofit in a bathroom with an existing floor covering in front of the base, or a new floor covering can be installed in front of the base, or the assembly can be installed over an existing or new floor covering, permitting greater flexibility in design, and providing greater economy by allowing the existing flooring to be used.
These and other features and advantages will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.